


The Return

by katmayfair



Series: Redemption is Irrelevant [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-04 06:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2955194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katmayfair/pseuds/katmayfair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I promised a friend I would fix series eight as it came out. That didn't happen, but now I'm heading off on my own tangent, because Clara and Twelve deserve better. Totally unshippy. This story (as an arc) is unofficially subtitled 'canon is for losers', although I'm totally willing to accept that I'm a different variety of loser. :) Also the tenses may not entirely line up. Sorry.</p>
<p>Anyway, this is the start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Return

'What is it?'  
'What's what?'  
And that's how it starts again. That's where Clara was sucked back into the Doctor's orbit. It didn't take long to come tumbling out - of course Gallifrey wasn't there, how had he been that stupid? They're sitting on the vivid aqua-green, grassy hills of a planet called, ironically, Delirium, and Clara can only sigh, reach over, and rub a hand between his shoulder blades. He's sitting below her, still not quite able to look her in the eye, some sort of shame at having had, briefly, hope.  
For her, life had come back up to speed like it was loaded on a flywheel. She had moved on, moved home, reconnected and built a network for herself. Remarkably good work, even if she said so herself - she knew exactly how a normal life was supposed to fit together, but she had never quite wanted it to fall into place, like if she did that it was an admission that she was accepting normal.  
And so it goes. She's there when he falls into a brood of wondering why he couldn't go home, and he sees her debate over how she's going to create her own normality again. These days she's gone back to school, living within spitting distance of campus and with chemistry spinning in her head. The Doctor looks at her like she's got a screw loose when she explains this, and she elbows him sharply in the side.  
'This is my thing now. English is fine, but it was time for me to do something new. And physics is too many numbers, all of which I know you disobey, so what's the point?'  
'How are you financing this?' He asks after a pause.  
'Erm,' she belatedly hides the tag on the coat draped over the seat behind her, then realises that it wouldn't mean anything to him anyway.  
'Clara.' He emphasises both the syllables of her name, fixes her with a narrow gaze.  
'When I was back with Vastra, I may have...'  
He leaps to the end of the sentence and rolls his eyes theatrically.  
'Causality is just a game to you, isn't it?'  
'That's rich, coming from the last of the, what was it, time servants?'  
They stare at each other for a moment. Clara pleased, the doctor almost impressed that she had picked up so many tricks so fast.  
Then he flicks a lever and they land in what, for a second, seems to be a warzone, and resolves itself into a festival. Clara grins, loops her cashmere snood around her neck, and vanishes into the crowd.  
Half a moment later, unzipping his jumper to leave it on board, he gets the implication. She always suspected he would come back.  
He doesn't need to wonder what she would have done if he hadn't. He leaves the cool blue lights of the tardis, steps out into the sun, and follows Clara into the throng.


End file.
